Door dividing machine



Jan. 14, 1969 R. s. CLIFFORD DOOR DIVIDING MACHINE Sheet Filed 061.. 24, 1966 INVENTOR.

KOfifZTid/f/ZWD Jan. 14, 1969 s, c F o 3,421,556

noon-mvmme MACHINE Filed Oct. 24, 1966 Sheet 2 of a E & 2a N a a E H 3 E E l is; 5 I m =-g E g l m (\1 k i 5 E v l LL L I I 8'3 k 3 L i l E F mvsmon. ROBERT s CLIFFORD Jan. 14, 1969 R. s. CLIFFORD 3,421,556-

DOOR DIVIDING MACHINE Filed Oct. 24, 1966 Sheet 5 of s l i (D (O I a, 9 I5 I Jo I L N l KO 2 INVENTOR.

ROBERT s. CLFFORO 1 BY U M Jan. 14, 1969 R. s. CLIFFORD DOOR DIVIDING MACHINE Sheet Filed Oct. 24, 1966 INVENTOR. ROBERT s. CLIFFORD Jan. 14, 1969 s, CLIFFORD 3,421,556

DOOR DIVIDING MACHINE Filed Oct. 24, 1966 Sheet 5 of 5 INVENTOR. G [3 ROBERT s. CLIFFORD United States Patent 8 Claims This invention relates to a door dividing machine, and more particularly, to a door dividing machine adapted for use in dividing wide doors into relatively narrow doors, whereby standard wide doors may be divided, such that they can be used for small closet doors, or the like.

In the manufacture of doors, lattice frame are generally provided with veneer skin structure on opposite sides thereof and in many instances, such doors are constructed with the lattice frames so arranged, that an intermediate or middle frame member is sufiiciently wide to permit the division of a door from a wide door to a pair of rela tively narrow doors. With the use of standard wide doors having wide internal frame lattice structure, it is possible to divide the door in the middle of the intermediate wide frame portion, however, it has been a problem to attain high production of narrow doors from wide doors due to various problems of dividing and finishing these doors, especially when thin veneer skin structure is disposed at opposite sides of the intermediate internal frame structure of the door. Circular saws tend to splinter the surfaces of veneer structures and, accordingly, such wide doors, hereinbefore mentioned, cannot be simply sawed and thereby divided into a pair of relatively narrow doors. Furthermore, when a side door is separated into a pair of relatively narrow doors, by the usual sawing operation, the adjacent edges of the narrow doors are rough and of necessity, must be finished to remove the roughness of the saw cuts.

The foregoing operations, if performed manually, are prohibitive in cost and therefore, such production of a pair of relatively narrow doors from a standard wide door have posed several difficult problems.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a door dividing machine, which will produce a pair of relatively narrow doors from a standard wide door and whereby the wide door is accurately and efiiciently divided into a pair of relatively narrow doors with a minimum amount of labor.

Another object of the invention is to provide a door dividing machine which permits a large door to be divided, such that a pair of doors are produced and the pair being split from a single door, thus, have matching face veneer grain.

Another object of the invention is to provide a door dividing machine having a novel combination of grooving cutters and a door dividing saw all aligned with each other, such that the grooving cutters provide grooves in upper and lower sides of doors, whereupon the saw aligned with the grooves and within the confines thereof, may completely divide a standard door into two relatively narrow doors without splintering the exterior veneer skin of the door and whereby the adjacent edges sawed apart may be finished with a minimum amount of work and may be finished substantially flush with the edges of the grooves cut in the upper and lower surfaces of the original door.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a novel door dividing machine having a common conveyor which conveys a standard door through a dividing area and a finishing area in proper sequence to cut a standard wide door into two separate relatively narrow doors and to finish the adjacent edges of the narrow doors to precise standards.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel combination of mechanisms for cutting a Wide door into two pieces and a novel combination of mechanisms for finishing the adjacent cut edges of the relatively narrow doors, all combined with a single frame and conveyor arranged in production line disposition.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a very economical, efficient and durable door dividing machine.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following specification, appended claims and accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary top or plan view of a door receiving end of a door dividing machine, in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary Iplan sectional view of a door delivery end of a door dividing machine, in accordance with the present invention and showing a continuation of the structure illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view of the machine of the invention, taken from the line 33 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view of the machine of the invention, taken from the line 4-4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary plan sectional view of the door edge finishing mechanism of the machine of the invention, taken from the line 5-5 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged transverse fragmentary sectional view taken from the line 66 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary transverse sectional view taken from the line 7-7 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged fragmentary plan sectional view taken from the line 8-8 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 9 is an enlarged fragmentary elevational view taken from the line 9-9 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 10 is a sectional view taken from the line 10-10 of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is an enlarged fragmentary plan view of a section of the conveyor of the invention, showing door edge engaging means thereon;

FIG. 12 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the structure, shown in FIG. 11, showing a door by broken lines and being engaged by door engaging means of the conveyor of the invention;

FIG. 13 is a cross sectional vie-w of a wide door, showing a wide intermediate frame section therein and illustrating the conventional veneer skin structure on opposite sides of the door;

FIG. 14 is a sectional view of the intermediate portion of the door, shown in FIG. 13;

FIG. 15 is a view similar to FIG. 14, but showing upper and lower surfaces of the door grooved by grooving means of the invention, to permit sawing the intermediate frame section apart without splintering the veneer skin structure on opposite sides of the door;

FIG. 16 is a view similar to FIG. 15, but showing by broken lines, the confines of a saw cut communicating with the grooves in the upper and lower portions of the door during dividing operations by the machine of the invention; and

FIG. 17 is a cross sectional view of the structure, shown in FIG. 16, but showing the standard door divided into relatively narrow doors at the intermediate section of the original standard wide door,

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the machine comprises a door receiving end and a door delivery end, respectively. The structure shown in the right hand end of FIG. 2, being a continuation of the structure shown in the left hand end of FIG. 1, such that FIGS. 1 and 2 combined, illustrate a substantially complete plan view of the dividing machine of the invention.

Likewise, FIGS. 3 and 4 are vertical sectional view of the machine of the invention, showing respective receiving and delivery ends of the machine. Reference is therefore made now to FIGS. 1 and 3, in which is illustrated generally the receiving end portion 20 of the machine. This portion 20 comprises a section 22 of a main frame 24. This section 22 includes a plurality of longitudinal members 26 on which rollers 28 are rotatably mounted on horizontal axes. These rollers 28 are also shown in FIG. 7. The upper peripheries of the rollers 28 are adapted to engage and support a lower surface of a door, as indicated by broken lines 29 in FIG. 7 of the drawings. Thus, a substantially conventional wide door may be supported on the portion 20 of the machine, as indicated by broken lines 30 in FIG. 3 of the drawings. Disposed at the receiving end 20 of the machine are sprockets 32 engaging conveyor chains 34. These conveyor chains 34 pass over sprockets 36 on opposite ends of the frame 24 and these chains 34 are endless chains having door engaging and driving clips 38, which are shown in detail in FIGS. 11 and 12 of the drawings. These clips 38, as they pass upward about the sprockets 32, as indicated by an arrow 40 in FIG. 3 of the drawings, engage an end edge 42 of a door 30 and tend to move the door in the direction of an arrow 44 in FIG. 3 of the drawings.

Referring now to FIGS. 11 and 12, the detail of these door engaging clips 38 may be fully understood. Each clip 38 is provided with an upstanding portion 48 having a convex surface 50 directed in the same direction of the arrow 44, such that the convex surface 50 engages the edge 42 of the door 30 for forcing the door from the receiving end 20 of the frame 24 to the delivery end 54, shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, respectively.

The sprockets 32 operate as idlers, while the sprockets 36 are driven by a motor 56, shown in FIG. 4 of the drawings. The conveyor chains 34, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawing, are spaced apart horizontally and are substantially equidistant at opposite sides from upper and lower grooving cutters 58 and 60, respectively, and with respect to a dividing saw 62, all as shown best in FIGS. 1 and 3 of the drawings.

The grooving cutter 60 rotates in a direction of an arrow 64, while the grooving cutter 54 rotates in the direction of an arrow 66, such that the peripheries of the cutters are counter to the direction of movement of the door 30, carried by the conveyor chains 34 in the direction of the arrow 44.

The grooving cutters 58 and 60 are provided with peripheral cutter teeth adapted to cut grooves 68 and 70, as shown in FIG. 15, in upper and lower sides of a door so as to cut through respective veneer skin sections 72 and 74, all as shown in FIG. 15 of the drawings.

The cross-sectional shape of the cutter teeth of the grooving cutters 58 and 60 substantially conforms to the shape of the grooves 68 and 70, shown in FIG. 15. These grooves 68 and 70 are sufficiently deep to slightly penetrate the intermediate frame section 76 of the door. This member 76 being substantially twice the width of opposite edge frame sections 78, shown in FIG. 13, so that dividing the door in the center portion, as shown in FIG. 15 and in FIG. 16, provides for the manufacture of a pair of individual relatively narrow doors having uniform opposite edge frame core portions 80, which are substantially equal to the member 78, shown in FIG. 13, the sections 80 being illustrated in FIG. 17, wherein the wide door is shown divided into a pair of relatively narrow individual doors.

The width of the saw 62 is substantially illustrated by broken lines 82 in relation to the grooves 68 and 70. Thus, the saw 62 is sufficiently wide to almost span the width of the grooves 68 and 70, but since the saw 62 is slightly narrower than the grooves 68 and 70, a sufficient amount of material is left for edge finishing operations to remove the saw cutter marks and to provide relatively smooth adjacent edges 84 of the pair of relatively narrow doors, shown in FIG. 17, all as will be hereinafter described in detail.

The grooving cutter 60 is rotatably mounted on a shaft 86 carried by an arm 88, which is pivoted at 90 to the frame 24. A pulley 92 secured to the shaft 86 is driven by a belt 94, which is driven by a motor 96.

The arm 88 is adjusted as to elevation by an adjusting mount screw 98, such that the upper periphery of the grooving cutter 60 is disposed slightly above the elevation of the upper peripheries of the rollers 28 in order to project sufficiently above the lower surface of the door, as shown in FIG. 15, to form the groove 70, as the door is moved in the direction of the arrow 44 by the clips 38 on the conveyor chains 34.

The grooving cutter 58 is mounted on a platform 102 which is pivoted at 104 on a bridge frame portion 106 of the frame 24. This bridge frame portion overlies the conveyor chains 34 and the door 30, as it passes thereunder.

Carried on the pivoted frame 102 is a motor 106 having a pulley 108 driving a belt 110, which drives a pulley 112 on a shaft 114, which carries the grooving cutter 58. Thus, the grooving cutter 58 is power rotated, while the door 30 passes thereunder.

A spring loaded roller 116 is adapted to bear downward on the upper surface of the door 30 to hold it downwardly against the rollers 28 and toward the grooving cutter 60, while the grooving cuter 58 is spaced relative to the upper surface of the door by means of a depth gauge roller 118, which bears on the upper surface of the door, the lower periphery of this roller 118 is slightly above the periphery of the cutter 58, so as to permit this cutter 58 to penetrate the upper surface of the door and cut the grooves 68, as shown in FIG. 15. Thus, the adjusting screw mount 98 may be utilized to set the upward depth of the groove 70, as shown in FIG. 15, while the roller 118 may be used to gauge the downward depth of the groove 68 cut by the grooving cutter 58.

The upward periphery of the saw 62 is extended sufficiently above the upper peripheries of the rollers 28, so as to permit the saw to cut, as illustrated by broken lines, completely between the grooves 68 and 70 to separate the central frame portion of the door into two sections, all as indicated by broken lines in FIG. 16.

The saw 62 is power operated by a motor 102 driving a belt 122, which passes over a pulley on the shaft 124, which carries the rotary saw blade 62.

After the upper and lower surfaces of the door have been grooved at 68 and 70, as hereinbefore described, the door passes onward in the direction of the arrow 44 and is forced in such direction by means of the conveyor chains 34 and the clip 38 carried thereby.

As the adjacent edges 84, as shown in FIG. 17, of a relatively narrow door pass toward the delivery end 54 of the machine, these doors reach a wedge structure having its leading edge 132 so disposed, that adjacent saw cut edges 84, as shown in FIG. 17, pass on opposite sides of the wedge structure 130 and continue in the direction of the arrows 44 toward door edge finishing mechanism, generally indicated at 134 in FIGS. 2 and 4 of the drawings.

Attention is now directed to FIGS. 2, 4 and 5, wherein this door edge finishing mechanism is illustrated in detail.

A motor 136 drives a belt 138, which passes over an idler 140 carried by a door finishing mechanism frame 142, as will be hereinafter described. The belt 138 passses over the pulley 140 and also pulleys 144 and 146. These pulleys 144 and 146 are connected to shafts 148 and 150, respectively, shown in FIG. 5, carried by the shafts 148 and 150 are belt supporting rollers 152 and 154 on which sanding belt 156 and 158 are mounted. These are endless belts and they are also mounted on respective spaced rollers 160 and 162, all as shown best in FIG. 5 of the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 5, the wedge structure 130 is provided with opposite diverging sides 164 and 166, which communicate and align with opposite sides 168 and 170 of the door finishing mechanism frame 142.

Said opposite sides 168 and 170 are provided with slotted openings 172 and 174 exposing surfaces of the belts 156 and 158, respectively. These openings 172 and 174 and the respective exposed surfaces of the belts 156 and 158 are arranged to finish the adjacent edge portions 84 of the relatively narrow doors, as shown in FIG. 17, and as will be hereinafter described in detail.

As shown in FIG. 8, a belt backing plate structure 176 is disposed behind each of the openings 172 and 174, as hereinbefore described, and disposed to hold the respective belt 156 or 158 outwardly toward one of the respective edges or surface 84, shown in FIG. 17.

Referring now to FIG. 8, it will be seen that the belt backing structure is provided with a resilient plate 178, fixed to a relatively rigid mounting plate 180 by a screw 182 at one end and the opposite end 184 of the resilient plate is adjustably mounted on a screw threaded bolt 186 and is spring loaded by a coil spring 188 so as to cause the resilient plate spring 178 to bow outward in a direction of an arrow 190 to prevent a convex surface to the inner side of the respective belt 156 or 158 so that the convex surface of the belt 158 is, thus, resiliently held outward relative to the opening 174 in order to project the surface of the belt outwardly slightly beyond the respective side 170 of the finishing mechanism frame 142.

Referring now to FIG. 6 of the drawings, it will be seen that the belt 158 at its outward convex surface 192, as shown in FIG. 8 of the drawings, engages and finishes a respective edge 84 of one of the narrow door sections, indicated at 194 in FIG. 6 of the drawings.

An edge of the narrow door 194 opposite the edge 84 being finished, is engaged by a plurality of spring loaded rollers 196 for forcing the edge 84 of the door 194 against the portion of the sanding belt slidably moving over the resilient convex plate 178, indicated in FIG. 8 of the drawings.

Referring now to FIGS. 9 and of the drawings, it will be seen that the rollers 196 are mounted on shafts 198 carried by plate spring arms 199 fixed at 200 to a longitudinal member 202 of the frame 24. These rollers 196 are thus resiliently urged toward the respective belts 156 and 158 and their respective exposure openings 172 and 174 for forcing the edge portions 84, as shown in FIG. 17, into engagement with the sanding belts for finishing these edge portions to remove the saw cut marks therefrom and to finish the edges substantially flush with the extremities of the grooves 68 and 70, as hereinbefore described.

As shown in FIG. 7, it will be seen that pairs of the rollers 196 engage opposite edges of the standard wide door before it is divided and at the approach of said door to the grooving cutters 58 and 60 and the saw 62.

After the standard wide door has been divided, as

hereinbefore described, and has passed the separating wedge structure 130, the edges 84, as shown in FIG. 17, are sanded smooth adjacent to the openings 172 and 174 through which the sanding portions of the belts are projected and held by the resilient plates 178. As the door passes beyond these areas, the two relatively narrow door portions are completely finished at their edge portions 84 and are thus ready for further operations, which are no part of the present invention.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various modifications of the present invention may be resorted to in a manner limited only by a just interpretation of the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a door dividing machine the combination of: a frame; a conveyor on said frame comprising a single door receiving end and a double door delivery end; said conveyor having means engageable with doors for forcing said doors from said receiving end to said delivery end; a pair of power driven grooving cutters rotatably mounted on said frame and disposed in a substantially common vertical plane to cut grooves in upper and lower sides of doors when moved from said receiving end toward said delivery end; a saw aligned with said cutters and spaced from said cutters toward said delivery end whereby said saw, saws through a door within the confines of the upper and lower grooves in a door formed by said cutters, and whereby a wide door is thus divided into a pair of relatively narrow doors; wedge means on said frame and disposed in space relation from said saw and in a direction toward said delivery end, said wedge means disposed to separate said pair of relatively narrow doors as they are moved by said conveyor relative to said frame; said wedge means having opposite sides diverging toward said delivery end; a second frame means having opposite sides extending from said opposite sides of said wedge means; door edge finishing means exposed at opposite sides of said second frame means; and spring loaded rollers disposed to engage first edges of said relatively narrow doors and tending to force opposite edges thereof against said door finishing means; and third means for driving said door edge finishing means.

2. The invention, as defined in claim 1, wherein: said door edge finishing means comprises endless sanding belts.

3. The invention, as defined in claim 1, wherein: door supporting rollers are mounted on said frame on horizontal axes to support doors being moved thereon by said conveyor, said groove cutter disposed to cut a lower side of the door he vertically adjustable relative to said frame.

4. The invention, as defined in claim 3, wherein: said cutter which is disposed to cut an upper side of a door is movably mounted to move upwardly relative to a door thereunder; and a door contacting roller connected to said last mentioned cutter, said door contacting roller having a periphery spaced upwardly a slight distance above the lower periphery of said last mentioned cutter and adapted to support said cutter in grooving position relative to the upper surface of a door.

5. The invention, defined in claim 1, wherein: said conveyor comprises a plurality of endless chains; and clips connected to said chains and extending thereabove, said clips having convex shoe portions disposed to engage end portions of doors for moving them relative to said frame.

6. The invention, as defined in claim 2, wherein: backing plates are disposed behind said sanding belts; said sanding belts slidably disposed relative to said backing plates, said backing plates slightly convex adjacent said belt for holding them outwardly against said opposite edges of said relatively narrow doors.

7. The invention, as defined in claim 2, wherein: each of such sanding belts is supported on a pair of rollers spaced longitudinally relative to said conveyor such that a sanding surface of each belt is disposed at one of the opposite sides of said second frame means; a common drive means for said belts comprising a motor; a belt driven by said motor;

pulleys coupled to adjacent rollers on which said belts are mounted; and an idler pulley mounted on said second frame such that said belt driven by said motor passes over said idler pulley and said pulleys coupled to the rollers supporting said belts.

8. In a door dividing machine the combination of: a frame; a conveyor on said frame comprising a wide single door receiving end and a double door delivery end; said conveyor having means engagable with doors for forcing said doors from said receiving end to said delivery end; power driven means for grooving upper and lower sides of doors when moved from said receiving end toward said delivery end and disposed to cut grooves in upper and lower sides of a door such that the grooves are substantially vertically aligned with each other; means aligned with said grooving and within the confines of the grooves in the upper and lower portions of the door, whereby a wide door is divided into a pair of relatively narrow doors; and means supported on said frame and operable between the divided pair of relatively narrow doors for finishing adjacent edges thereof during movement of said relatively narrow doors on said conveyor toward said delivery end.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 10,341 12/1853 Parker 144-39 602,507 4/1898 Kennedy 144-41 2,760,532 8/1956 Bale 144-3 DONALD R. SCHRAN, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 144-39 

1. IN A DOOR DIVIDING MACHINE THE COMBINATION OF: A FRAME; A CONVEYOR ON SAID FRAME COMPRISING A SINGLE DOOR RECEIVING END AND A DOUBLE DOOR DELIVERY END; SAID CONVEYOR HAVING MEANS ENGAGEABLE WITH DOORS FOR FORCING SAID DOORS FROM SAID RECEIVING END TO SAID DELIVERY END; A PAIR OF POWER DRIVEN GROOVING CUTTERS ROTATABLY MOUNTED ON SAID FRAME AND DISPOSED IN A SUBSTANTIALLY COMMON VERTICAL PLANE TO CUT GROOVES IN UPPER AND LOWER SIDES OF DOORS WHEN MOVED FROM SAID RECEIVING END TOWARD SAID DELIVERY END; A SAW ALIGNED WITH SAID CUTTERS AND SPACED FROM SAID CUTTERS TOWARD SAID DELIVERY END WHEREBY SAID SAW, SAWS THROUGH A DOOR WITHIN THE CONFINES OF THE UPPER AND LOWER GROOVES IN A DOOR FORMED BY SAID CUTTERS, AND WHEREBY A WIDE DOOR IS THUS DIVIDED INTO A PAIR OF RELATIVELY NARROW DOORS; WEDGE MEANS ON SAID FRAME AND DISPOSED IN SPACE RELATION FROM SAID SAW AND IN A DIRECTION 